^CategoryEthics

^{Type
post

Author
Mind Matters

Date
October 30, 2018

Categorized
Ethics

Tagged
Code of Conduct, Google, harassment, Richard Hipp, Silicon Valley, SQLite}

Peaceful code of conduct sparks rage in Silicon Valley

_{Hi tech firm’s code, based on ancient monks’ practice, deemed “just disgusting”} _{Mind Matters

October 30, 2018

Ethics}

Whether or not the Rule of St. Benedict is suited to a high tech workplace, the strategy of frightening or policing people out of bad behavior implies low expectations. One thing it means is, there will be many more news stories about harassment to come. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Mind Matters

Date
October 29, 2018

Categorized
Ethics

Tagged
ethics, Moral Machine, self-driving cars}

There is no universal moral machine

_{The “Moral Machine” project aimed at righteous self-driving cars revealed stark differences in global values} _{Mind Matters

October 29, 2018

Ethics}

Whatever the causes of cultural differences, Brendan Dixon thinks that the Moral Machine presents mere caricatures of moral problems anyway. “The program reduces everything to a question of who gets hurt. There are no shades of gray or degrees of hurt. It is, as is so often with computers, simply black or white, on or off. None of the details that make true moral decisions hard and interesting remain.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett

Date
October 2, 2018

Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning

Tagged
culpability, liability, model interpretability, Moral Responsibility}

When machine learning results in mishap

_{The machine isn’t responsible but who IS? That gets tricky} _{Jonathan Bartlett

October 2, 2018

Ethics, Machine Learning}

We should require model interpretability for any machine learning model for which moral responsibility plays a significant role. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Mind Matters

Date
September 29, 2018

Categorized
Data Privacy, Ethics

Tagged
corporate surveillance, education, Google, Surveillance}

Google is collecting data on schoolkids

_{Some say it’s okay because the firm supplies a lot of free software and hardware to schools} _{Mind Matters

September 29, 2018

Data Privacy, Ethics}

Many parents may not be content to let matters rest there; they might prefer to pay taxes for school equipment and have less surveillance in our lives overall. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Mind Matters

Date
September 25, 2018

Categorized
Ethics

Tagged
censorship, China, Google, Silicon Valley, Surveillance}

Google Powering China’s Snoop Culture

_{They’ve suppressed the memo but can’t suppress the uproar around it} _{Mind Matters

September 25, 2018

Ethics}

It may at first seem deeply ironic that a Silicon Valley ostensibly committed to liberal values would help to unleash this storm. But a political analyst carefully traces the growth in its enthusiasm for “smart government,” using the tools of information technology for social engineering. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Mind Matters

Date
September 16, 2018

Categorized
Ethics, Events, Social Factors

Tagged
coconut oil, coconuts, Dignity Coconuts, Petra Christian University, sustainable agriculture, Walter Bradley}

Coconuts Go High Tech

_{Plastics from coconut waste offer economic benefit to poor farmers} _{Mind Matters

September 16, 2018

Ethics, Events, Social Factors}

One of Walter Bradley’s longstanding goals as an engineer and materials scientist has been to harness advanced materials technology to help the world’s poor, most of whom are poor farmers.

The true cost of “free” social media

_{It’s free but… are we? George Gilder points a way forward.} _{Denyse O'Leary

September 15, 2018

Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors}

He thinks that expected massive increases in computing power will enable blockchain technologies that allow users to safely bypass the global data monopoly that Google and similar firms represent. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Mind Matters

Date
September 14, 2018

Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors

Tagged
censorship, China, Google, Jack Poulson, Sundar Pichai}

Senior Google scientist quits over Google’s censorship in China

_{He believes it “contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights”} _{Mind Matters

September 14, 2018

Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors}

Some believe that any censorship system that a human being can develop can somehow be got around by another human being. China may provide a way of testing that.

How Bitcoin Works: The social value of trust

_{Jonathan Bartlett

September 13, 2018

Business and Finance, Ethics, Machine Learning}

The idea of employing such a game to guarantee validity in a trustless environment is nothing short of groundbreaking. It is an amazing accomplishment, and I am impressed by it more each time I think about it. However, it does have some drawbacks, which, I think, will ultimately lead to its demise.

Will killer drones make killing easier?

_{That, says a bioethicist, depends on who the pilots are} _{Mind Matters

September 5, 2018

Ethics, Natural Intelligence}

Heather Zeiger tells us that traditional aerial combat pilots tend to think the same way when piloting drones from an office but it may be a different story when cell phone addicts, who tend to lack empathy, are recruited. Read More ›